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Back to School Safety 2007-2008

2008-07-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

As we pack our K-12 kids up and get them ready for another school year, we need Happy Tree Friends Flippy Attack be constantly thinking about their safety. This applies both to their travel to and from school and their safety while on school grounds.

Parent drivers must remain watchful. Children dart unexpectedly into traffic, often from between parked cars. And young pedestrians face a variety of dangers while walking to and from school. Here are a few basic safety tips to follow:

Mind all traffic signals and the crossing guard.

Walk your bike through intersections.

Walk with a buddy.

Wear reflective material. It makes you more visible to street traffic.

The US Dep't. of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests the following safe bicycling practices:

Always wear a helmet.

Always ride on the right side of the road. Never ride against traffic.

Ride single file. When Xevoz other bikers or pedestrians, let them know your position by shouting out something like, "On your left!"

Always check behind you before changing lanes.

Watch out for dangerous things in the roadway. Litter, potholes, gravel and storm drains all can cause you to lose control.

Stop at all stop signs and at all traffic lights. Be extra careful at crossroads.

Always signal before making a left or right turn.

Maintain control of your bike. Don't swerve or Volleyball sudden turns.

Use caution when riding next to parked cars to avoid injury from someone suddenly opening a car door in front of you.

Listen for cars approaching from the side or behind you.

Don't follow a car too closely. You may be in the blind spot, where the driver cannot see you, and you may be unable to stop if the car comes to a sudden halt.

Know your road signs and obey them.

Always be prepared to stop.

Wear brightly colored clothing.

Don't wear headphones, loose clothing or inappropriate shoes.

Remember these safety tips for entering and exiting the school bus:

Have a safe place to wait for your bus, away from traffic and the street.

Stay away from the bus until it comes to a complete stop.

When being dropped off, exit the bus and walk ten steps away from the bus. Also, remember Carnival Jackpot the bus driver can see you best when you are away from the bus.

Use the handrail to enter and exit the bus.

Be aware of street traffic. Drivers are required to follow the rules of the road concerning school buses, but not all do. Protect yourself and watch out.

You may think that riding in a car is completely safe. But there are still rules you must follow to avoid accidents when riding in a car:

Don't forget that most traffic crashes occur close to home.

Safety belts are the best form of protection in the event of a crash. Everyone needs to be buckled up properly: older kids in seat belts, younger kids in booster seats and toddlers in child safety seats.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has a "Back to School Safety Checklist" with tips on making schools, child care facilities and playgrounds safer. Hidden hazards from the checklist include the following:

Playgrounds -- Check the surfaces around equipment. There should be a 12-inch depth of wood chips, mulch, sand or pea gravel, or there should be mats made of safety-tested rubber or fiber material to prevent head injury when a child falls.

Drawstrings on jackets and sweatshirts -- Remove them from around the neck. They can cause strangulation by catching on things. Cut drawstrings at the waist or bottom of jackets to three inches.

Window blind cords -- If the windows in your home, childcare centers or schools have blinds, cut the loop and attach separate tassels to prevent entanglement.

Recalled Products -- You can get up-to-date recall and product safety information by checking out CPSC's web site on your home or school computer. Sign up to get free recall notices by fax, e-mail or regular mailing by calling CPSC's hotline or writing to CPSC, Washington, D.C. 20207.

The information in this article was compiled from the National Safety Council website at http://www.nsc.org, CPSC's website at http://www.cpsc.gov, and an article on Back to School Safety on the AT&T website at http://www.att.com

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Why Game Developers Are Switching Over To XNA Game Studio Express

2008-06-26T05:25:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has given students and hobbyists and entry point into Seraph world of game development with XNA Game Studio Express. This program, coupled with the language C#, has enabled such developers to create PC and Happy Tree Friends Flippy Attack games on the fly-- eliminating the need Revolution Amazing Golf Pro teams or extended development times.

Presently, there are around 10 million subscribers to Xbox Live. If a hobbyist or student does indeed gain access to these 10 million subscribers, it could be the big break they are looking for to gain entry into the game development community. Game development companies are scouring the entries for possible employees-- not to mention that Microsoft has been approving some games for commercial sales.

Microsoft has allowed game developers to access Xbox Live Arcade Type Masta a medium for indirectly selling games. This allows Microsoft's gaming division to receive hundreds of new online games for Xbox users, and also allows game developers to get their name heard around the world. But Microsoft doesn't offer an easy means of selling homebrew games. Instead, developers must get approval through Microsoft so as to not violate the terms of use for XNA Game Studio Express.

For a select few, Microsoft has even given large cash prizes and bonuses out. In the "Dream Build Play" competition, five developers won the prizes of a lifetime: internships and free money! Winners also received a year's worth of subscription to the Xbox Live service that enabled them to create games in the first place. The "Dream Build Play" competition was the kickoff to a large celebration by Xbox Live fans-- who can enjoy an onslaught of new games every day thanks to the decision by Microsoft.

But just as things couldn't get more exciting- Microsoft offers a democratic solution to weeding out the bad games from the good. This feature, aptly named "Peer Review," allows Xbox Live gamers to vote and flag games as they see fit. The best games will rise to the top of XNA stardom, while the rest will be left out in the dark abyss of games that couldn't make it. This allows for games to be judged based on their overall playability and user response-- and not judged by an executive in a pristine suit.

There has been a hugely positive response from both Xbox Live Arcade players and Xbox developers. As icing on the cake, the complete package of XNA Game Studio Express is completely free to developers: you can make the next killer game for absolutely no cost at all!

With every passing day, we can only imagine the number of innovative and creative games that will come out for Xbox Live users in the near future. Since the XNA Game Studio Express package has very few limits in terms of graphics, performance, and stability; there have already been commercial-quality games that have made their debut in the short time span this global reach was introduced.

If you've ever been interested in game design, it's time to strike while the iron is hot-- and get those games created while there is still a large uproar in the community for new releases.

Zachary Schuessler runs an XNA Game Development blog to teach hopeful developers about the XNA game design process.

From Downloading and Installing XNA Game Studio to using advanced techniques to Adding Sprites to XNA Game Studio Express, the guide is a great start to get a foothold in the XNA community.

Cheap Hotels in Singapore Are Very Much Sought After

2008-06-26T02:52:00.001-07:00

Hotels in Singapore are among Bames Jond 700 V2 best known accommodation in the world. Equipped with the best Indiana Jones Io modern facilities and pleasing lodgers with its commendable services, Singapore Hotels are highly recommended accommodation in the country. Even cheap hotels in Singapore make for a great accommodation.

Falling in all categories, hotels in Singapore can be found in different price brackets. Ranging from luxurious Singapore hotels, mid range hotels to budget hotels... you will find it all in this lovely destination. Hotels Singapore is highly praised all across the world for their pretty ambience and warm reception. The hotel staffs are polite and very warm who meet all your needs with utmost respect and graciousness. Sought after by the backpackers and young people with lesser budget, cheap hotels in Singapore can be found mainly in areas of Little India, Bugis and East Coast. Singapore Budget Hotels are generally featureless and middling in their amenities and services, but they still are very much in demand and purposeful. You will find most of these lodgings in the western region of the Singapore River. Of late there has been an upsurge of "boutique" hotels in revamped shop houses here and in the area Chinatown and these accommodations are available at pretty good value.

An island-state in the region of Southeast Asia, Singapore is connected to Malaysia by bridges. Once a British trading colony, it is today one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Singapore is highly influenced by the Indian, Chinese, and Malay culture and it is the a tropical climate, with tasty food, good shopping and a vibrant nightlife scene, this Garden City makes a great stopover or springboard into the region. Singapore's strategic location has helped it develop into a major hub for trade, communications, finance and tourism. Since Singapore is a popular travel destination, hotels in Singapore makes sure that they impress you to no end.

Some of the best things to do while you are on your trip to Singapore are as follows:

Shopping

It is a heavenly experience to shop around in Singapore. Well designed and colossally Shooting Fish In A Barrel shopping malls and centers of Singapore are a perfect haven for all the shopaholics. Most of the stores are open 7 days a week from 10 AM in the morning to 10 PM in the night. Many stores located along the shopping arcade of Orchard Road and Scotts Road now remain open late in the night on the last Friday of every month that has more than 250 retailers staying open till midnight.

Food

Singaporean cuisines are simply delectable. Since the Hexxagon is largely influenced by Chinese, Indian and Malay culture, you will find quality Malay, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Japanese, French, Italian, American and other food in this city-state. Not just the food the restaurants as well are truly praiseworthy. The cheapest and most liked places to eat in Singapore are hawker centres. Apart from being a great place to eat out, the hygiene standards are also very good.
So have a good time in Singapore.

Author is an associate editor of http:// http://www.stayressingapore.com - The website offers exclusive information of online reservation We also provide information about Cheap hotels Singapore.

Kids Online Games

2008-06-19T07:36:00.001-07:00

Running around the house, littering everywhere, screaming, shouting and....Kids can be hell-raising and invitation to thousand troubles. But once Happy Tree Friends Flippy Attack are preoccupied with their teeny-weeny little Balloon Slinger pin-drop silence is a bonus. With the changing times and technological advancement there's a massive change in our attitudes, lifestyle and habits. Take for eg Internet, which has changed our lives to 360 degrees. Now kids are no more interested in carom board and card board games stuffs. With the revolution of online games and improvement of graphics- kids online games came into the picture. Today, they are in high demand and in the radar of 21st century, high-tech preteens and teens.

With the spectrum of features including Amazons Vs Athenians and entertainment features, online kids games are hitting the grand stand and gets sold out minutes after stock reaches the stores.
These games have their own benefits. Young minds get completely engrossed while playing it as it asks for great amount of attention and concentration, which indirectly in a way make them do well in their studies. With improved Stone Breaker they fare well in their school exams.
Jigsaw, clipart, arcade, word games, puzzles are not just great fun but educative also. It imparts a lot of learning and sharps the brain when kids use their logical, mathematical skills and IQ to win. Kids online games can be played by single or more than one player. And in a way, it invokes in them cooperative and competitive spirit.

It keeps little kids busy and entertained for many many hours non-stop, when other games fail to do so. Once the summer and winter holidays starts they guarantee plenty of good times at home. Myriad sites are offering host of games keeping the pool of desired demands in mind. From action to adventure, suspense to mystery, Funny to scary- one can find wide- variety. Games on different celebrations and special occasions like Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas are easily available. Free kids online games, printable printable pages can be easily taken out from Internet sites.

Whoopee!!! Welcome kids to the wizard of online games and enjoy.

http://www.onlinegamesxl.com/
http://www.onlinegamesxl.com/online-games/kids.html

Don't Drink Your Calories - Expanded Version

2008-04-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

It may well be Arcade Body Cage Fire soda pop is mankinds worst ever discovery. If you drink soda pop, especially the caffeinated kind, it could kill you, as shown recently when a mans death seems Arcade Fire Judson have been Double Dragon Arcade Machine with his overconsumption of diet soda. But most especially, it can go right after your kids health. Pop gives the average teenager approximately 12.5 teaspoons of refined sugar a day. It works out to that much more than what our US government has determined people need in unrefined sugar per day. Also, your kid Arcade Fire Glasgow you are using soda pop, in all probability, as a food. In 1977-78, teenagers drank twice as much milk as Amusement Arcade Park drinks, but by 1994-96, it had turned around; they were Arcade Dublin Fire Ticket twice as much soda as they were drinking milk. And such consumption is linked with lower intake of nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Meanwhile, empty calories are all those soda pops contain, aside from ulcer-causing acids. The ingredients in both regular and diet pop can eat away the inner lining of your stomach, eventually causing severe digestive problems. And the average small bottle or can of soda contains over 200 calories, none of which harbor any real nutrients for your health whatsoever. If you consume one can of pop per day, you will gain 12 pounds in only one year. Pop is contributing to major health problems, particularly obesity. Such a condition has been proven to injure your health by the USDA Economic Research Service. Several studies by them have shown that weight gain is directly related to soft drink consumption. Weight gain itself is the prime risk factor for Type Two Diabetes, which can make you go blind, cause lifelong paralysis and finally death. It can be controlled only through a daily regimen of diet or medication. Do you want that sort of thing in your life? If not, cut back on your drinking of soda pop.

Also, fruit juices and drinks like iced tea, Gatorade, Snapple, and other such common drinks which are promoted to be healthier than soda pop are often no such thing. Check the label before you buy fruit juice. It may contain only 10% real fruit juice. And the drinks that claim to contain 100% real fruit juice have just as many calories as soft drinks and are not that much more nutritious, either. Many fruit juices are simply loaded with sugar, either refined or unrefined. A glass of apple juice holds 10 teaspoons of sugar, as the juice is concentrated from a much larger amount of apples. Youre much better off eating a single apple and getting the smaller amount of calories and the roughage instead. The sugar in apple juice is concentrated, unlike when in the original apple, and it will raise your insulin level, making your body burn excess blood sugars rather than fats.

And our average alcohol intake is certainly not any better. Hard liquors contain a high amount of calories, and even a light beer has about 100 caloriesall empty. Alcohol is quite dense in calories; one gram of alcohol is worth seven calories. Although an occasional glass of fine vintage red wine is good for your heart, it contains a high amount of alcohol, which is high in calories and contains no nutrients. And alcohol does not satisfy your bodys hunger cravings, as your body will burn alcohol for fuel before it begins to burn your body fat. So you will continue to eat commensurate to your hunger, thus piling on the calories. This is not to mention the facts that alcohol also destroys your brain cells and causes a remarkable amount of vehicle accidents and deaths.

It may well be that soda pop, alcohol and other such empty calorie consumption is a major problem in America, especially for teens and adults. Thats why theyre trying to remove it from the schools. And as you get older, being overweight can give you coronary disease, strokes from blood clots building up in your arteries, and cancer. Cancer is like being eaten away by your own body, literally a piece at a time.

Also, always downing that two-liter of soda pop increases the risk of osteoporosis in both men and women when they drink soda pop instead of milk, which is rich in bone-building calcium, and dentists are especially keen on people not drinking sugar-laden, no calcium, hopelessly empty soda pop. All it seems to do is taste good, it would appear. Dental experts say that if you drink it between meals to quench your thirst, you get tooth decay and dental erosion due to the sugars and the acids in pop.

Some of your desire for pop puts you at a risk for kidney stones and a slightly higher risk of heart disease. There needs to be more research done in these two areas, but there has been a fair degree of documentation done by the University of California at Berkeley.

Caffeine, on the same hand, has been proven to be a highly addictive drug. If you drink a cup of coffee or more per day, day in and day out, you are technically addicted to coffee. Its a stimulant and has been proven to help peoples sex lives somewhat, but it also increases the excretion of calcium. Other ingredients in soda pop such as Yellow Number Five promote attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in some children. Yellow #5 also induces allergic reactions such as asthma in a sizeable portion of individuals.

Soft drinks are one of the most heavily promoted items in all of human history. You can find them in gas station stores, the 7-11 or the AM-PM, vending machines are everywhere, and they are lining the school halls also. You need something wet to quench your thirst, and thats the secret reason people are going to bars anyway. To get a drink. But neither the soda pop nor the Orbitz Game Arcade as both caffeine and alcohol are addictive drugs.

US companies spend $700 million or more per year on media advertising for soda pop per year, and hundreds of millions on other promotional activities. They even make contracts with your public school systems to sell soda pop in the halls. Parents and educators have recently, however, been making a concerted attempt to reign in that form of merchandising. Several states have banned at least the non-diet soft drinks from some or all schools, but that could be more of a step backward than a step forward. It does cut the calories, and diet soda has been proven to not quench hunger by some studies, again done at the University of California. Your kids will not do much better on diet soda, but at least theyll be more prone to eating or drinking something elseunless they dont. Diet soda is still full of those same acids they mentioned, and have no sugar in them to help them along in your digestive cramp. They can cause nausea, diarrhea and constipation, not to mention those same allergic reactions, including asthma, as regular soda does. Diet soda alone is not an easy way out.

Nonetheless, the Center for Science in the Public Interest makes these recommendations: that governments should require chain restaurants to declare the calorie content of soft drinks and all other items on menus and menu boards; the Food and Drug Administration has been told by them to require labels on non-diet soft drinks to state that frequent consumption of sugar-laden drinks promotes obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, osteoporosis and other health problems; governments should provide water fountains in schools, government buildings, parks and other public places; school systems and other organizations, and all those organizations which cater to children should stop selling soft drinks, candy and junk foods in hallways, shops and cafeterias.

Until this month of September, 2005, there was no hard and clear evidence through science that soda itself alone can make kids fatter. But reporting in The Lancet, a British medical journal, a team of Harvard researchers had found the first evidence absolutely linking soda pop drinking to childhood obesity. Twelve year olds who drink soft drinks regularly are far more likely to become or to be obese than those who dont.

Obesity experts at Harvard found this to be highly important and spent 19 months following the children rather than simply following them around for a week or so like many studies gone before have done. Statistically through many similar studies its been found to be more important to use a lengthy study than a sporadic or shorter study. And in this study, it was found that schoolchildren consume who drink pop take in some 200 calories per day more than children who usually dont. It supports the notion that long-term obesity is an ingrained behavior, starting in childhood, and that we dont compensate well for calories in liquid. In short, water or milk is simply better.

In fact, the answer to this problem is patently obvious: drink water, and more water. Milk is good, but you should always remember that its a food, and not that useful for thirst purposes. Whole milk especially is high in both fat and calories, so go easy on the milk. Water, on the other hand, has no calories and is the very thing you should drink to quench your thirst. You should drink a minimum of six eight-ounce glasses of water per day, say all the experts who have studied this subject. And water, without adding on any calories, can take the edge off your hunger and help you fill up. A good time to drink a glass of water is just before a big, calorie laden meal; it will slow you down. One strategy that works is to always Primary Game Arcade a bottle of fresh, clean water with you, and to take sips from it frequently. This also helps prevent daily dehydration, which can be exacerbated by overconsumption of alcohol, soda pop and coffee or tea, which all produce excess thirst.

A small daily consumption of coffee and/or tea is fine, as long as you dont add lots of sugar to your caffeinated or decaffeinated beverage. Both coffee and tea contain antioxidants, which are anti-cancer agents benefiting your overall health. Green tea has been discovered to have terrific health benefits, less caffeine, and to boost your metabolism, helping you to burn fat. You can even drink it before you go to bed, calming hunger cravings for that midnight snack which might cause you to gain weight. But avoid the designer drinks you find at Starbucks and other such shops which are loaded with high amounts of milk fat and sugar. If you must have your latte, put cinnamon in it, which helps slow down your absorption of sugar--and which also has no calories and tastes delicious. And add honey or turbinado sugar and low-fat milk to your drink.

Although fruit juices are not the best bet to quench your hunger and your thirst, as they contain too high of amounts of insulin-raising sugars, vegetable juices such as V-8, Welchs, and X Box Live Arcade Review tomato juice are fine, as they are both low in calories and do not have a high sugar concentration. However, dont depend on them too heavily, as they are high in salt content, which again like soda pop, alcohol and caffeinated beverages make you thirstier. Too high of salt intake is also associated with major health problems. And you should not substitute veggie juices for fresh fruits and vegetable, which contain fibers and other nutrients than you will find in the juices from them. In fact, if you eat fresh fruit and vegetables in large quantities, they will help you with your thirst problem and fill you up with proper food and nutrients as well. Have a slice of watermelon instead of a beer. Fruits and veggies will help quench your thirst, as well as drinking plenty of water.

But soda pop has been shown to make you thirstier, and that does lead to the further drinking of it as you attempt to quench your thirst. Something about the combination of chemicals in many soda pops dries out people. So then they reach for another can of soda, thus Jr Pac Man Arcade Game committed to a vicious cycle. And that greatly increases their calorie intake, especially since pop today is now coming supersized as well, filling up those larger and larger plastic single-serve looking bottles. It might not be a bad idea to try to follow the serving suggestion, at least, on the bottle. And it might be a better idea to drink either soda pop or alcohol of any kind from a plastic or glass bottle than an aluminum can, as the aluminum has been shown to seep into the can. This may have something to do with the formation of Alzheimer plaques in the human brain, as aluminum may be a cause of Alzheimers disease, a dreadful illness that causes people to forget everyone and everything that holds any meaning whatsoever in their lives.

Is it worth it, to worship a can of a kids drink that was invented as a snake oil remedy in a poor mans fireplace by bubbling a concoction of chemicals together that tasted good? He only intended to sell it in small amounts to adults as a tonic, as it did seem to settle peoples stomachs, and stimulate them. Thats because original formula Cokes main ingredient was cocaine, not caffeine, but eventually cocaine became illegal. Caffeine and alcohol are both heavily addictive drugs which have been overly promoted as beverages. Water is not. Water is good for you, where caffeine and alcohol can actually hurt your body and eventually cause long-term health problems leading to great pain and death.

The Coca-Cola Company finally removed cocaine from its product. Perhaps someday, we should follow suit on caffeine and alcohol. But until that day ever comes, we are stuck having to police ourselves and our children. Please do it wisely.

Many of the statistics and facts in this article are from:

1) The Amazing Statistics and Dangers of Soda Pop

http://www.mercola.com/2001/mar/10/soda_pop_dangers.htm

By Sally Squires and Dr. Joseph Mercola

2) From Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americas Health

The Center for Science in the Public Interest

http://www.cspinet.org/liquidcandy/

New Urbanism - A Critique of Disney's Celebration - Social Elitism, Developer's Practicality-Profit

2008-04-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Celebration: American Utopia or Stepford?

"The building of cities is one of man's greatest achievements. The form of his city always has been and always will be Arcade Town pitiless indicator of the state of his civilization." Edmund Bacon, 1967

The art of city building, after being lost and rejected for over half a century Arcade Games favor of decentralized commercial strip development and suburban sprawl (the stepchildren of Modernism), is being resurrected Millsberry Arcade several 'New Town' projects cropping around the country. Seaside, Newport, Windsor (all on the East Coast) and now Disney's Celebration have caught the hearts and wallets of Americans wishing for a middle ground between the infrastructure waste and social isolation of our refined suburbs and the higher density, raucous/ crime stereotype of the big city. A moot (perhaps) bonus is that somewhere in this in-between might be a new-found sense of community.

Millions of Americans in our sterile suburbs allow themselves to be robbed a human necessity: to experience a balanced social/ environmental upbringing (that our European counterparts enjoy day to day). Political isolationism and escapism have a root in our psyche. Throughout our lifetimes, minimal interaction on a daily basis for children and adults with a cross-section of individuals of varying ages with cultural, ethnic, and economic differences limits our world-view and understanding of each other. The core issues of community, democratic participation, and individual responsibility are ignored perhaps because they touch deeper philosophical and social themes that continue to be evaded by the American conscience.

As for New Urbanism, most Americans wouldn't know it if it bit them in the derriere. Starting with mitigation (a form of legal bribery: destruction of protected wetlands-flora and fauna, in exchange for $15M) Disney has not bettered the typical subdivision in many respects. At Celebration, inhabitants will commute out to their jobs while lower salaried workers in the CBD commute in. The net result is as much auto pollution as ever-even more since the whole mixed-use development is at a higher density. Commons and parks are by-products of tight lots which are improvements over the monotony of the typical subdivision, no doubt.

Celebration is over controlled and lacks social conscience. It is elitist: gingerbread glosses social inequity. There is no evidence of individual contribution by the citizenry nor will there be until ownership (Homeowner's Association) changes hands one day and Disney will be legally immune. Totalitarian control, as in Haussmann's Paris under Napoleon III, appears to be the only way that Americans can find a modicum of utopia. Relinquishing the Democratic process is an accepted trade-off in order to gain peace of mind (read ethnic, social, economic cleansing). Our dismal history of failed modern planning and zoning, originally intended to improve quality of life, has proven an antiseptic, deadening social and environmental conundrum where the only winners are bureaucrats and corporate developers.

At Celebration architects have been intoxicated by a power that could only have been relegated by corporate executive mandate. Design omnipotency tied to corporate ends has resulted in a high-brow, overpriced subdivision on steroids. Oddly, the downtown architecture appears to have been a product of weak management control over the imported 'name' architects. Pastel banality with a homogenous finish (due to single developer build-out of the entire ensemble and too much STO) is a Disney trademark. You can Arcade Church Fire Judson Memorial spot a tinge of fascism at the entry sequence to the project where Disney Development offices stand abstractly in stark opposition to the truer to period Colonial and Classical Traditionalism of the other community buildings nearby.

On the whole the image of the residential sectors reminds one of the facades of early western boom towns which hide a more meager 'back of house'. Overblown facades are squeezed side by side on narrow lots while infrastructure is duplicated in the form of back alleys hiding 2-3 car garages. Sociability around the front lawns and curbside is thus dramatically impaired. Screening is allowed only at the rear where most families will spend their down-time in the pool and safe from bugs. They also won't be bothered by the parades of inquisitive tourists that Disney is planning to draw to the downtown.

While capitalizing on their brand-name and offering total predictability in all aspects Disney has tried very hard to make buying Florida swampland feel good: 'Utopia on a platter'. Sans serendipity, surprise, mystification, or complexity the overall theme is succinctly "defense by privilege". While 'citizens' are anxious to wake up in Mayberry they may find out to their chagrin that they have really bought into Stepford.

PART 1: An Early Look at Disney's 'Celebration'

What if they built a city and nobody came? (An intriguing thought but perhaps not the case here as corporate inertia and massive marketing will guarantee build-out.) In this instance I feel a strange sense of loss even though perhaps at first blush a Classicist's dreams are about to come true. While many traditional/Classicist architects and designers have decried the Modernist's indiscriminate foray into the built environment and hoped that the tide would someday turn back to a widespread use of classical or formal design principles coupled with a more traditional and organic planning theory, the concept of a Utopian setting to showcase a 'return to tradition' has not been attempted at this scale (except in Leon Krier's fantasies) in three dimensions. Until now.

In late February this year several local architects and residential designers were invited to a preview of Disney's 'Celebration'. This master-planned city of 20,000 will have state-of-the-art health and educational facilities, a town center designed by the usual cadre of 'important' period style architects (including a rather surprising modernesque Philip Johnson entry) and approximately 8,000 residential lots of differing types and sizes, the widest being 90 feet with 15 foot side setbacks.

The project manager, a Princeton architectural graduate with an MBA, insisted that the goal of the master plan was to induce a sense of community; the expectation is to achieve a varied mix of age groups and economic backgrounds where families would continue to live there throughout several generations. And there was a meticulously researched and produced architectural control standards manual (based on the 'pattern' books of yesteryear) illustrating the acceptable styles for the residential units: Classical, Victorian, Colonial Revival, Coastal, Mediterranean, and French.

Architectural control includes inviolable first and second floor heights as well as window and door types, setbacks, massing and materials use per each distinct style. Porch, roof, and facade treatments have recommended design standards as well. The picket fences, common areas, and shady boulevards as shown in the conceptual watercolor perspectives achieve a Mayberry-Savannah-Charleston feel with Arcade Fire Montreal residents apparently enjoying the good life sitting at single and upper story front porches (highly recommended) watching the world go by.

I could not put my finger on what was troubling me except I remember that I felt either God was in the planning or I was hearing the drums of the Third Reich. The Strathmore model of the town center looked a bit contrived. Here were Pelli's, Venturi's, Stern's, and Moore's little monuments in the form of a bank, theater, apartment, office building, cultural center, lookout tower, etc. all arranged neatly on separate blocks. It seemed like a swell theme Millsberry Arcade to live in. Everything had its place, the main boulevard was on axis leading by the commercial zone to the lake-front promenade with intersecting streets that allowed a minimum of parking.

Further setback were the residential areas each grouped according to the size of the lots with alleys separating types and also eliminating the unsightly two or three door garage viewed from the front of the main street, no doubt a clear improvement over America's typical suburban layouts. Everything seemed as perfect as possible. Sometime after 1940 it was pointed out, "...architecture took a right, we are trying to continue the development (of well designed buildings, implied) as if it was never interrupted; we are taking the left fork in the road." Very true, I agreed, the Modernists surely drowned this country and the world with their banal excess of stripped down functionalism. I was rooting yet skeptical at the same time. A little voice inside me told me to stand up and defend... something--that was missing perhaps.

I asked if the entry points were to be gated. "Not foreseen, we want this to be an open community." What about security concerns? "No crime anticipated at the moment." We chuckled at the vision of 40's black and whites roaming the streets. Will the town center be able to sustain itself? "All space Arcade Game Party Rental pre-leased." How can you make people sit out on the front porches in Florida's heat and mosquito swarms, especially since you are not allowing screened enclosures? "The overhead fans will cool and dispel the swarms." Well, there was nothing more to criticize, Disney had it all figured out. Satisfied we all left and thanked our host.

The next day I communicated the following in part:

I realize that your model incorporates the European traditional building forms in an American town setting, but wouldn't the more successful model (especially for the viability of the commercial activity) be to complete the circle and re-introduce the classic Italian, French or German prototype? Maybe this will be the theme of Celebration II? The other irony of Celebration is that I recall Walt's intent for EPCOT was for a viable 'City of the Future' which implied real examples of futuristic living and working (technological progress, etc.) nodes and the corresponding buildings. I guess we have looked into the future and really didn't want where the 'right-hand' fork was leading. For now, unless there is a proven better alternative I must agree with the premise that Celebration takes and its intent to re-educate America on what a community should really consist of. You have here a utopian layout that will re-ignite a spark of remembrance and longing in all who visit."

But that uneasy sensation kept grinding in my stomach. Finally I put it together: First, like Seaside, this community was designed to keep the visitor uncomfortable from just wandering into town and enjoying the sights. Second, with so much architectural control the organic tendency for creative growth was nipped before the bud like an Orwellian injection. Even with six allowable styles that quixotic architectural invention that makes a street-scape so charming and vital was not possible. A Victorian motif grafted onto Colonial Revival didn't seem credible. Mixing Mediterranean with Classical outlawed Palladio. Why, no Modernist touches were even thinkable! (I was surprising myself pushing for a bit of 'contemporary' styling).

"...Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, 'tradition' should be positively discouraged."

R. Venturi, 1966

Although the implicit goals of Disney are to introduce innovation for the better, their master plan has not sufficiently advanced modern urban planning practice in this case except to sterilize further. The free-standing artificiality of the town center reads more like an extension of Universal's or Disney's own facade-citecture at their studio lots. I will always prefer the historical prototype of the European (Italian, Greek, German, or French) town square with its natural liveliness and spontaneity that is so completely absent from American CBD's. (For that matter the caricature replicas of Old World themes in Disney World appear to be more people oriented than at Celebration!) The integration of many urban themes are required to present an enriching environment, especially in the 'downtown'. For example the infill of many years' growth, contraction, and rebuilding is vital to establish a thread of continuity and adds an indispensable degree of enrichment to the urban condition.

Everything of age in this country was indiscriminately torn down to make way for economic progress until the preservation movement took hold. What makes the Continental example so compelling is the mix of old (history) and new, the density and mix of commercial and residential, and the evidence of life --as witnessed by people enjoying their walking, chance social meetings, shopping and watching, eating and playing, etc. The main issue under contention is that Celebration isolates and zones functions like so many other modern plans which results in the same automobile centered or formally laid out suburban design. Consider the simple presence of street vendors (outlawed typically) which add so much color to the street life. And when the new Interstates bypassed so many of our nation's older communities even the opportunity for the tourist, traveler, stranger (gasp!) to enrich the citizenry by the chance meeting in the town square or at the market was extinguished. The complete interaction with the outside world is nullified. The town dies. This dilemma is especially true with planned towns such as Celebration and Seaside and the host of others 'a l'Americaine'.

You do know however before buying into Celebration that the proper inoculations have been made. I for one miss the smell of the diesel or the horse-drawn carriages down the dusty streets of Izmir, Turkey (where I spent my youth) as I might sit at a corner cafe, hailing a roasted nut vendor to sample the latest crop of sea-salted pistachios, while waiting for my olive oil braised lamb-chops to be served. Not just the smells but the sights and sounds as well of my fellow human beings involved in their daily way of life I miss and the rich environment that cradles this activity. Architecture cannot solve planning issues. Only people united to preserve their humanity can.

The final irony is this: over twenty five years ago Walt Disney created the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow (EPCOT) as a showcase to house and employ a viable population; real people in a working environment. This did not come to pass. What materialized was a clever but kitschsy perpetually outdated theme park initially planted with rather exciting (for the youngster in us all) but cornball 'futuristic' carnival rides underwritten by corporate America. Now Disney has decided that the past is the key to the future. And they have a totalitarian vehicle to prove they are right. For a while I was rooting for them, now I am more convinced that the wives of Stepford will have a place for their own.

At a time of such diversity in the visual appearance of buildings it is absurd to enforce conformity which merely degenerates into uniformity. With the acceptance of the principles of the gradual renewal of environment it is desirable to follow the practices of the past in which they were applied: each period putting its new buildings next to those of earlier times and without taking up design elements formerly in use. This is healthy practice, unaffected by lack of confidence or by the morbid desire to let the past control the present. It has protected the urban and semi-urban areas of bygone ages from becoming museums and it makes for the delight of so many English towns where the buildings of different periods stand cheek by jowl together and where the history of the towns can be read from the difference of their buildings. Whoever has walked along the rue de Rivoli, the most depressing street in all Paris, will understand what is meant by 'living diversity', small-scale planning, intimacy and other environmental values which are gradually being rediscovered. Therefore no more 'design guides', no more control of visual appearance by officials of limited visual education and sensitivity or by neighbours who wish to impose their own tastes or, as estate agents contend, to protect their 'investments' and whose ulterior motives bear no examination."

Walter Segal, 1980

Afterword

Upon receiving some criticism for the above remarks and after considering the matter further I came across a social study of Pullman, Illinois (10 miles south of Chicago) considered a model community built in 1881 which included housing and basic service amenities (as well as the factory for the Pullman Palace Car Company) where 8,000 people lived and worked. My sensibility was shocked at the parallels. "One of Mr. Pullman's fundamental ideas" as social critic and economist Richard Ely wrote in his analysis of the town "is the commercial value of beauty". Pullman commissioned a single architect to master plan and design the entire town. There was a market-house, theater, library, offices, shops, bank, hotel, fire department, educational facilities, etc. In describing the street-scape Ely observes:

Unity of design and an unexpected variety charm us as we saunter through the town. Lawns always of the same width separate the houses from the street, but they are so green and neatly trimmed that one can overlook this regularity of form. Although the houses are built in groups of two or more, and even in blocks with the exception of a few large buildings of cheap flats, they bear no resemblance to barracks... French roofs, square roofs, dormer-windows, turrets, sharp points, blunt points, triangles, irregular quadrangles, are devices resorted to in the upper stories to avoid the appearance of unbroken uniformity. A slight knowledge of mathematics shows how infinite the variety of possible combinations of a few elements, and a better appreciation of this fact than that exhibited by the architecture of Pullman it would be difficult to find. The streets cross each other at right angles, yet here again skill has avoided the frightful monotony of New York, which must sometimes tempt a nervous person to scream for relief. A public square, arcade, hotel, market, or some large building is often set across a street so ingeniously as to break the regular line, yet without inconvenience to traffic. Then at the termination of long streets a pleasing view greets and relieves the eye--a bit of water, a stretch of meadow, a clump of trees, or even one of the large but neat workshops. All this grows upon the visitor day by day. No other feature of Pullman can receive praise needing so little qualification as its architecture.

Indeed he continues: "Very gratifying is the impression of the visitor who passes hurriedly through Pullman and observes only the splendid provision for the present material comforts of its residents. What is seen in a Download Classic Arcade Game or drive through the streets is so pleasing to the eye that a woman's first exclamation is certain to be, 'Perfectly lovely!'

But approximately six years after the first spade was dug to begin this utopia a great riot broke out. Despite Pullman's efforts to maximize his returns through efforts to beautify the town and include as many practical comforts as possible for his workers the inevitable breakdown occurred. It should be pointed out that like many other company towns, the workers did not own their own properties. Strikes, individual initiative, charitable and mutual insurance associations were thwarted, discouraged, or put down. A woman who had been living at Pullman for two years told Ely only three families among her initial acquaintances were still living there. Ely asked 'It is like living in a great hotel, is it not?' Her reply was 'We call it camping out.'

Ely concludes: "There is a repression here as elsewhere of any marked individuality. Everything tends to stamp upon residents, as upon the town, the character best expressed in 'machine-made.' Note that in this passage his reference is not to the social problems which no doubt had a deep negative impact on the people but alludes more to the architectural and planning characteristics which had been previously described as idyllic! He finishes in a more political strain, "...the conclusion is unavoidable that the idea of Pullman is un-American. It is a nearer approach than anything the writer has seen to what appears to be the ideal of the great German Chancellor. It is not the American ideal. It is benevolent, well-wishing feudalism, which desires the happiness of the people, but in such way as shall please the authorities. One can not avoid thinking of the late Czar of Russia, Alexander II., to whom the welfare of his subjects was truly a matter of concern. He wanted them to be happy, but desired their happiness to proceed from him , in whom everything should center. Serfs were freed, the knout abolished, and no insuperable objection raised to reforms, until his people showed a decided determination to take matters in their own hands, to govern themselves, and to seek their own happiness in their own way." How much of the unrest in Pullman was due to negative social factors and how much could be attributed to the apparently utopian physical infrastructure?

"The more influence a person is able to exert on his surroundings, the more committed he becomes."

Herman Hertzberger, 1980

A free people must freely adopt their choice of habitation in terms of style, materials, costs, etc. In many areas where over-legislation occurs under the guise of protecting the integrity of the community a boring repetition results due to restricted size, height, materials, and style. In addition to floor area ratios with attendant design restraints the resulting structures (which desperately seek to find any loophole through which a mote of individualism may be imposed) are often hideous attempts to exert originality or personality into an oppressive architectural milieu. Rather than so completely legislating the total design, especially the style, why not leave it to the individual (and his architect!) to select, innovate Arcade Dublin Fire Ticket a better resolved set of guidelines?

Sometime after 1940 it was pointed out, "...architecture took a right, we are trying to continue the development [of well designed buildings, implied] as if it was never interrupted; we are taking the left fork in the road."

"There is a repression here as elsewhere of any marked individuality. Everything tends to stamp upon residents, as upon the town, the character best expressed in 'machine-made'...

Understandably, shoddy construction and ill conceived schemes should not be allowed but rejection because the strict canon of 'Mediterranean' or 'French' was not followed 'by the book' limits creative growth and experimentation which in the long run, if permitted, provides a fertile diversity, freshness, yes even controversy at times which can only enrich the built environment and 'empower' the individual with the right of free expression. Style should never be legislated. Bad architecture should be eliminated.

"A good architect will always do original work. A bad one would do bad 'modern' work as well as bad work (that is imitative) with historical forms." P. Johnson, 1961

It is unfortunate that in newly developing towns and smaller communities the rich texture of classic urban models cannot be convincingly replicated. Given the choice between a pasteurized and homogenized model town with its inherent philosophical anomalies I will take the path of worn cobblestones down dusty winding streets past antique, crumbling and weathered edifices with gnarled wooden doors of enchanting designs, where the smell of the baker's bread permeates my being in the morning, past markets where one can inhale the smell of fresh tomatoes, grains and meats, brought in from the fields where even the pungent odor of pack animals mix with exotic perfumes, where the hordes gather to banter over the price of goods under open air canvas canopies and with merchants tucked into the niches of mighty stone relics, where the smell of fresh ground coffee is served in sidewalk cafes, and where even the odor of an imperfect sewer mixes with diesel fumes. Above all it is the people who bring these places alive, like stage actors on a set in which they have had a chance to personally paint and by which they can remember their own history.

The key to urban vitality, as L.M.Roth describes the views of the prominent writer and editor of Architectural Forum in the early sixties Jane B. Jacobs, is "diversity and complexity." Leonard Kip wrote of Genoa in The Building of Our Cities (1870): "With what joyous contentment he (the traveler) wanders through its winding alleys, finding new surprises at every corner!" Of Paris he describes the feeling of "Losing ourselves...with the full knowledge that we cannot be disagreeably led out of the way..."

Americans have for too long accepted the fruits of modern planning principles which breed monotonous city-scapes erected by rote to planning manuals designed with dispersive (instead of implosive) zoning with the resultant isolation of its parts, suburban and infrastructural waste. If 'a house is like a city' we would be all living in extravagant wastes of space, empty corridors leading to distant rooms whose only functional connections can be comprehended through a mapping system. Kip aptly describes our characteristic new communities and neighborhoods: "...when the resident can see the whole street rolled out before him as a diorama, he soon ceases to feel any spark of individual taste, but, catching the spirit of others, builds and rebuilds in the same style as every one around him, and so, in having a house, becomes the owner, not of a home, but merely of a certain number of lineal feet measured off from a rule."

In the mid-twentieth century Lewis Mumford decried the result of increased appropriation of space for the automobile in America's towns and cities claiming that the city existed for the 'care and culture of men' rather than for compromise to the mechanical monster. Los Angeles is the epitome of the 'consummate insensitivity and deadly efficiency' (Leland M. Roth, America Builds) of the Federal Highway Act's tenets and provisions gone mutant. Mumford asked: "Why should anyone have to take a car and drive a couple of miles to get a package of cigarettes or a loaf of bread, as one must often do in a suburb? Why, on the other hand, should a growing minority of people not be able again to walk to work, by living in the interior of the city, or, for that matter, be able to walk home from the theater or the concert hall? Where urban facilities are compact, walking still delights the American: does he not travel many thousands of miles just to enjoy this privilege in the historic urban cores of Europe?...Nothing would do more to give life back to our blighted urban cores than to re-instate the pedestrian, in malls and pleasances designed to make circulation a delight!"

On this point Celebration misses the mark. Although alleys hide the automobile the overall layout does not truly compel the pedestrian to leave his clinically ordered street and venture for even the smallest item. Corner groceries were once evident in the zone-free organic town of yesteryear but are absent here. The planning looks good from the aerial perspective but in reality does not deliver. The look of Charleston and Savannah is being attempted here but the activity and vibrancy will be absent at least as a product of its own citizenry. (Oh yes, the lights in the homes of Celebration's absentee occupants will be timed to turn on and off at night should the homeowners be at their Swiss time-share during the months of May through October.)

"The building of cities is one of man's greatest achievements. The form of his city always has been and always will be a pitiless indicator of the state of his civilization.

Edmund N. Bacon, 1967

Does Celebration propound to be the quintessential American town? Charles Moore (one of Disney's selected icons for one of Celebration's downtown structures) characterized the American attitude in describing the 'contemporary North American vernacular' as: "the work of a nation composed of people who at one time or another, in greater or less degree, have eschewed tradition, to strike out on their own." But he concluded: "Some of our most lively and convincing places in fact, are fantasies, Williamsburgs or Disneylands."

Disney must be applauded for their grand efforts, and meticulous attention to detail as always but to attempt the ideal and miss the mark so clearly by organizing the layout of their dream town to exclude the components that constitute the Midway Classic Arcade Game and lifeblood of any community (as experienced in historically viable models of living cities) will only result in a sterile aggregate of construction to be possibly abandoned like the American towns whose main streets have been bypassed, shopping relegated to the peripheral super-malls, and inner core left to decay. If not abandoned by virtue of the elect who will sign their names on the mortgage papers, vacated on the streets more likely. Architect James Marston Fitch has described the Italian street as "the most delicious experience of embrace and enclosure of any space on earth". The satisfying people/streetscape that Disney has created in EPCOT is a fantasy enjoyed by millions. There the effect was achieved that Bernard Rudofsky describes as having streets made "into oases rather than deserts." Cities like Charleston and Savannah are perfect models for the living community. They reflect what Edmund Bacon has characterized in ancient Greek cities as "the intimacy of inherited tradition...maintained." Why not match more closely the example of their and other cities of similar vitality and charm by rethinking our sterile zoning regulations, reducing the size of wasteful private residential lots, compactly integrating the living and working areas, and adding green space at the most beneficial locations? Encouraging pedestrian traffic will be no problem if services and entertainment are nearby, if during a stroll to the park you could also pick up some groceries, if on your way to work you could easily buy a newspaper and a snack from the vendor on the street. Does this sound like utopia? It has been done. It can be done. Only the mindset and status quo --and our 90 year love affair with our cars prohibits this healthful and economic alternative.

John Henry is a practicing Architect based in Orlando Florida (acclaimed for period style detailing), Urban planner, writer, and winner of regional design competitions. Quoted and published in local and national publications concerning architectural/planning theory and period style projects. In practice for over 21 years. Master Architecture, Texas A&M University. Member American Institute of Architects, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Contact and web info: email: JohnHenry@cfl.rr.com

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Video games in Singapore to carry rating classification by endApril (Channel NewsAsia via Yahoo! Singapore News)

2008-04-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Singapore A new tworating classification system for video games will be launched from 28 April .